Category: Deals and Cases

London’s High Court has ruled that Otkritie, one of the largest financial services providers in Russia, was defrauded by a group of former employees and their associates.

The judgment paves the way for the recovery of millions of dollars in already frozen assets and awards significant damages to Otkritie. Hogan Lovells advised Otkritie throughout the dispute.

The High Court’s judgment confirms that George Urumov, Ruslan Pinaev, Sergey Kondratyuk, Eugene Jemai and Vladimir Gersamia all conspired to defraud Otkritie through a complex fraudulent trade. The Judge found that the defendants defrauded Otkritie of USD 173 million then used their friends and families to launder the proceeds through dozens of offshore companies and bank accounts. The money was then spent on lavish villas, luxury sports cars and diamonds.

Mr. Justice Eder concluded that Otkritie was defrauded following “a cunning and well-orchestrated fraud.”

The case, which lasted 46 days in London’s Commercial Court, spanned over 20 jurisdictions and drew on Hogan Lovells’ offices in Moscow, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and Amsterdam. The team advising Otkritie was led by Corporate Relationship Partner Oxana Balayan in Moscow and Litigation Partners Neil Mirchandani and Crispin Rapinet in London, supported by Of Counsel Neil Dooley. The multinational team at Hogan Lovells further included over 100 lawyers and associates across the firm. The firm instructed Steven Berry QC, as Leading Counsel, with Nathan Pillow and Anton Dudnikov all of Essex Court Chambers.

Oxana Balayan commented: “This is another great example of a leading financial institution’s use of innovative strategies to pursue, and bring to justice, a global and multi-million dollar fraud dispute. Our lawyers at Hogan Lovells acted as an extension of Otkritie’s legal team, utilizing our firm’s global reach and strength in litigation to help the bank secure a comprehensive victory.”

Dentons has advised the electricity and gas provider E.ON Connecting Energies (ECT), a new international unit of E.ON Group, on the acquisition of the Russian Noginsky Teplovoy Center company from AMG Industrial Investment Corporation.

Noginsky Teplovoy Center provides heat and energy through a cogeneration plant to the Noginsk Industrial Park, located about 50 kilometers from Moscow. Tenants of the Noginsk Industrial Park include the chemical and pharmaceutical group Bayer, the retail chain Metro, and the Russian mobile service provider MegaFon. Closing of the transaction is conditional to obtaining Russian merger control approval and is scheduled to take place in spring 2014. Additionally, ECT and DEGA, the Swiss parent company of AMG, entered into a long-term joint-venture agreement to build, own and operate on-site combined heat and power generation facilities for future similar industrial parks in Russia.

The Berlin and Moscow Dentons team led by Berlin Partner Christof Kautzsch advised the buyer during the entire transaction – from due diligence to drafting and negotiating contracts (including contracts under Swiss law) and merger control approval in Russia. Others on the team included Partners Alexei Zakharko and Marat Mouradov, Senior Associate Judith Aron, Counsel Daniel Barth, Of Counsel Nadezhda Gryazeva, and Associates Dennis Azara, Sergey Gurdzhian, and Artashas Oganov.

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin advised Earlybird Digital East Fund 2012, a Luxembourg-based venture capital fund, on a closing that surpassed its USD 110 million target.

The Earlybird Digital East Fund 2012’s investment focus is on early and growth-stage technology companies within Turkey and CEE, which are highly-scalable businesses with international business potential.

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin acted as legal counsel to the Fund and advised on the key documentation and negotiations with investors, as well as the complex regulatory discussions with the Luxembourg financial regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. The King & Wood Mallesons team was headed by Munich Partner Sonya Pauls, with assistance from Associate Nicholas Wolfe, and Luxembourg-related aspects were co-ordinated by Partner Alexandrine Cerfontaine-Armstrong, assisted by Counsel Thomas Chevalier.

The Almaty office of the Integrites law firm has successfully represented the National Vodka Company, a Ukrainian company, in a trademark dispute in Kazakhstan.

The company’s attempt to register the trademark for its Khlebnyi Dar vodka in Kazakhstan was blocked by the discovery that another entity had already registered the trademark in the country, without any intent to produce or dispute any alcohol products. Integrites succeeded in characterizing the previous registration as an act of unfair competition, and it was annulled, with the rights to the Khlebnyi Dar trademark transferred to the National Vodka company.

Integrites Partner Duman Akhmetov led the representation.

Watson Farley & Williams has successfully defended itself against a professional negligence claim arising from the global financial crisis.

Former WFW client Itzhak Ostrovizky alleged in a counterclaim that WFW had, in 2007, negligently drafted three share purchase agreements relating to Ostrovizky’s investment in Greek solar electricity projects. As a result of the poor drafting, Ostrovizky claimed, he suffered a significant loss on the deal, and was eventually drawn into litigation in Greece.  

Justice Silber of the English High Court of Justice dismissed the charges, suggesting that any damage Ostrovizky may have suffered was more properly attributed to the global financial crash than any malpractice by WFW.

Watson Farley & Williams was defended by Clyde & Co Partner Sarah Clover, while Ostrovizky was represented by Mathew Arnold & Badwin Partner Jonathan Sachs.

The English High Court of Justice has disqualified White & Case as conflicted in a USD 2 billion dispute among Ukrainian businessmen.  

Although White & Case had withdrawn from a related arbitration in December, 2013, it had sought to continue in the formal litigation between Victor Pinchuk and rivals Gennady Bogoliubov and Igor Kolomoisky. Upon a finding that an unavoidable conflict of interest existed, the court issued a permanent injunction debarring the international law firm from acting on Pinchuk’s behalf.

The Court’s determination that White & Case was conflicted was based on the revelation that the firm had previously advised a number of companies in the United States in which Bogoliubov and Kolomoisky has ownership interests. The Court ruled that White & Case was in possession of confidential information that was or might be relevant to the litigation, and that Pinchuk’s interests were or might be adverse to the interests of the claimant.

The smaller Enyo Law (instructing barristers from Brick Court Chambers) represented the claimant companies, whose majority shareholders are Bogliubov and Kolomoisky, and White & Case was represented by Olswang Partner Richard Bamforth (instructing barristers from Fountain Court Chambers). Nabarro Partner Tom Dane (instructing counsel from Blackstone Chambers) represented Pinchuk in his ultimately unsuccessful intervention on behalf of White & Case.

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin has advised CEREA Partenaire, including the group’s Hungarian industrial partner, Chemark, on the acquisition of Speciality Chemical Packaging from Irving Place Capital and Oaktree Capital Management.

CEREA Partenaire is a leading private equity investor specializing in agribusiness and related sectors that has carried out 49 investments since its creation in 2004, and invested, with its co-investors, more than EUR 400 million.

Specialty Chemical Packaging is the former division of Chesapeake, a global provider of paper, cardboard and plastic packaging and is the European leader in barrier plastic packaging used mainly in the transport and storage of agrochemical products. The company reached a turnover of approximately EUR 50 million and employs 200 people in Europe.

This carve-out process will allow the group to deploy its resources in new areas with strong agricultural activity, in particular Brazil and Russia.

The King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin team was composed of Partners Thomas Maitrejean and Ylan Steiner and Associates Thomas Dupont and Benjamin Thorez for Corporate; Partners Raphael Bera and Gareth Amdor and Associate Thomas Guillier on Tax aspects; and Partner Olivier Vermeulen and Associates Marc Zerah and Margaux Baratte on Finance aspects.

Baker & McKenzie has advised Vneshprombank on its debut Eurobond offering of USD 200 million 9% bonds due in 2016 and a tap offering of USD 25 million. Listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, these Eurobonds will be used to diversify the bank’s funding sources and for general corporate purposes.

The book was subscribed by investors from Europe, Asia, and Russia following a roadshow in Moscow, Zurich, Geneva, Frankfurt, and London.

Vladislav Sitnikov, Vneshprombank’s vice president, was pleased with the result. “In our opinion this LPN issue will allow us not only to diversify sources of funding, but also to accumulate experience in a new segment of the financial market. We are confident that this project is only the first step in increasing awareness of the bank on the international stage.”

Baker & McKenzie’s team was led by Roy Pearce with support from Associates Dmitry Dembich and Maxim Khrapov in Moscow.

The Competition teams of Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev and Partners in Moscow and Kiev have successfully represented Dole Food Company CEO David Murdoch in his request for regulatory approval in those countries for his purchase of the final 60% of the shares in the company.

Completing the USD 1.6 billion deal that closed in November 2013, the final acquisition now gives Murdoch’s DFC Holdings control over all 100% of the shares.

EPAM lawyers representing David Murdoch on the deal included Associates Elena Kazak, Ksenia Firsova, Kristina Kokina, Oksana Franko and Nadezhda Dmitrenko, all supervised by Natalia Korosteleva, Partner and the Head of the Antimonopoly Practice at the Moscow Office, and Oksana Ilchenko, Partner and the Head of Corporate/M&A and the Antimonopoly practices of the firm’s Kiev Office.

Specht Bohm has represented the Nordic Tieto IT service company in its acquisition of Siemens Convergance Creators’ telecom research and development division.

The transaction will involve the transfer of 220 employees to Tieto’s subsidiaries in Vienna, Zagreb, Brno, Bratislava, and Zilina. The transaction is expected to strengthen Tieto’s portfolio, while allowing Siemens to focus more on its core businesses.

The final transition to Tieto is expected to have occurred by April 1st, 2014.